Calling all those 'Healthy eating' or 'Changing lifestyle'

Sorry to hear you're feeling down Lisa, it's hardly surprising you'd feel like that now and again when you have a very difficult situation to cope with. You seem to be a remarkably positive person though, so I'm sure this is only a temporary low mood. We all get them from time to time, but we bounce back. Nowt else we can do, eh lass? :)

Take some comfort and strength from the things you're doing to benefit yourself, for instance with your healthy eating and exercise regime. You're taking care of yourself, even if the person who should be isn't, right now. Keep your chin up. You're a strong woman who's doing very well to cope with a situation you didn't ask to be in. One day that situation will resolve itself, and I'm sure that better things await you.

Look after yourself, hope you feel better soon.
 
Thanks for your support ladies!!!

I'm back on track, gonna forget about the comfort food i've eaten the last few days, and i'm off to the gym in the morning :happy036:

Fingers up to the world (or rather the other half) once again, and i'm carrying on with my head held high and self esteem growing by the day....

Here's to a great end of the week and weekend :D:Na_Na_Na_Na:
 
Morning!!

Went to the gym yesterday, thought I would struggle as I haddn't been for a week or so, but actually I think the break probably did me good, I felt great and even knocked another min or 2 off my 5k!! :D

So today I'm off to the hairdressers to have my hair extentions taken out and hope my own hair has grown enough underneath and will look nice! Then i'm off out for a couple of drinks for a friends birthday...;)

My eating is going to be better today and my menu will be...

B - oats so simple with sultanas
L - chicken salad pitta squirt of very low fat mayo
D - Steak and Kidney stew, mash and veg (small portion)

Fruit snacks today, 1 glass orange juice and flavoured water.

Have a great day...:wavey:
 
Hi Lisa,

I am glad to read that you are doing better. I really like what tarotwoman wrote about how how other people having worse problems do not make yours any less real. Holidays are always difficult for those of us who have lost close family members, as they tend to be all about families. So, it is understandable that the loss of your mother woudl weigh more heavily at this time of year.

Perhaps, you could find some way to honour her in your celebrations -- maybe cook her favourite dish, etc. We always include 3 bean salad at family gatherings because we associate it with our beloved grandmother -- and she passed away when I was a small child.

MM
 
Glad to hear you're feeling a bit brighter Lisa. :)

I on the other hand am feeling decidedly horrible - last night I had some chocolate for the first time since I went vegan, and oh boy, has it had an effect! It's hard to find sweet things to eat as a vegan, apart from fruit. I guess it's been a few months since I had any refined sugar, mainly because most chocolate contains milk which I can't have, obviously.

We got this range called Whittaker's Chocolate Cremes in at work for Christmas, and I was surprised to find the plain ones are OK for vegans. Bought some a couple of weeks ago, they've been sat in the cupboard but I just fancied trying them last night. There's 20 little chocolates in the box and I had 5. Thoroughly enjoyed them. But oh my god, when I woke up this morning ..... I felt absolutely awful, queasy, headachey, weak and just generally blah. It reminded me very much of how I used to wake up feeling every day when I was a junk food addict.

It's got to be the sugar, right? It must be, because the rest of my day's eating was very healthy, as usual. I can't believe that even that small amount of refined sugar could have such an effect on me, but I guess my body just isn't used to it now. Ugh.

I couldn't eat anything all day I felt so sick. I've just had a little bit of dinner now and am starting to feel better. I've also thrown the rest of the chocolates away. I can't bear the thought of feeling like this again.
 
Hi Eliz,

It might be the milk in the chocolate that bothered you, too. Have you ever tried Carob based products from a Health Food store. You might find them to be an acceptable Chocolate Substitute.

MM
 
There wasn't any milk in these chocolates, I checked it out before buying them. I'm sure it must have been the refined sugar. I'm just amazed at the effect it's had, when I think back to how I used to eat - my god, no wonder I used to permanently feel as if I was about to cark it any minute!

What is carob, Minimel? Don't think I've come across it.
 
Thanks hon, actually once you get used to being a vegan it's fine, if you eat well it's actually one of the healthiest diets around. Most processed/convenience food is automatically out because it contains animal products of some sort, you end up cooking from scratch every day with fresh ingredients, which is much healthier (and cheaper!) for you. I made the committment because I feel strongly about the way animals are treated as products in our society, but it's been one of the best decisions I've made in terms of healthy eating.
 
Hi Eliz,

I grew up being raised by a mother who was a "hippie". In addition to being vegetarians (not vegans). We did not eat chocolate. We had carob power in our cakes, hot drinks and candy instead. We also did not consume white sugar, flour, etc.

I think as an older teenager I began to rebel by practically living on all that horrible stuff (including soda!). it was a slippery slope -- starting with gateway foods (white bread, white sugar, cookies, candy, diet coke and then on to full fledged living on McDonalds and candy bars!

Now, I am trying to go back the ways my mother taught me. LOL

MM

D&D Chocolates Mail Order Dairy-Free Chocolate and Carob Specialist UK -- can purchase from this website.

It is explained on this website (some copied and pasted below).
Carob

Well, carob is better for you than chocolate in several ways.Carob is a wonderful substitute for chocolate. It tastes great with a chocolate-like flavor but without the health risks, additives, or contamination that comes with chocolate.
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Carob is a legume that comes from the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua), an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean (it is actually a shrub that is trained into tree form by pruning). Today it is also grown in other warm climates including Florida and the southwestern United States.

Some additional information about carob:
1 ounce of carob powder has about 100 calories, which is about
1/4 cup in measure. This amount has about 10 grams of fiber and
.18 grams (virtually none) of fat. It also contains B vitamins, magnesium, iron, manganese, chromium, and copper. It takes 2 medium/large dry carob pods to make 1 ounce in weight.
[/FONT]
 
Thanks so much Minimel, that's very interesting - I hadn't heard of carob before but I will check it out. I wonder if it has the nutritional benefits of other things in the legume family? Legumes are a vital source of protein and calcium for vegans.

Hmm, mothers are usually right, aren't they. :D
 
It does have nutritional benefits. Yes, mothers can be right -- but when they are so controlling it makes it hard to not to try and break free. I think there is something to be said for learning from your own mistakes. I try to use moderation with my children -- not controlling behaviours and bizarre warnings, etc. She was extreme.

MM
 
I think it's natural and healthy to rebel against the ways you've been brought up with, particularly if there is too much control - in fact I'd say the one is an inevitable result of the other!

It's hard to get it right with your kids, no matter what you do. My daughter had a pretty good degree of freedom when she was growing up, got to make her own decisions with me as a sounding board. Now as an adult she tells me she wishes I'd been a bit stricter with her. Ah well. ;)
 
Hey Eliz,

How old is your daughter? My son is 18 and my daughter is 10.

MM
 
Interesting thread - the only way I've ever lost weight is through healthy eating, lots more fruit and vegetables and a lot less of everything else. The results last longer as well. But if you're not careful you slowly get back into eating more fat and suger and then you start to crave it, especially if you're depressed or stressed out.

I agree about teenagers needing to rebel a bit. I think a lot of people rebel by eating the things our mothers warned us about eating. 'Don't eat that, you'll get fat ... ' etc. I did eat it, and I got fat.
 
MinnieMel said:
Hey Eliz,

How old is your daughter? My son is 18 and my daughter is 10.

MM
Click to expand...

She's 26, and finally left home earlier this year. I was lucky to have her at home for so long. I miss her terribly, but I must say I don't miss the daily trial of almost breaking my neck on the shoes she used to strew all over the place. :D

We've always had a good relationship, I felt very strongly that my job as a mother was to guide and teach her to be her own person, rather than impose my own ways of doing things on her - I think this is why we've gotten on so well, with not too many of the issues that can often plague parent-child relationships. Now she's an adult she looks back and sees opportunities she wishes she'd made more of, things like keeping up her dancing and acting, or going to college when she left school - all things I advised her to do at the time, but she thought differently, and the decisions were hers to make. Now she's like 'mum, why didn't you MAKE me!!'. But I believe that part of helping a child to become an adult is letting them realise that decisions have consequences. It's a lesson best learned when you're young, it stands you in good stead for the rest of your life.

Anyway, I'm derailing Lisa's thread here, sorry hon! Got on the scales this morning for what will be my last weekly weigh-in, I stayed the same which is not surprising after losing 5.5lbs the previous week. I'm going to go to monthly weigh-ins now, as part of the 'normalising' process. My eating is stable and very healthy these days, so letting go of the weekly visit to the scales is the next step.
 
Yes, sorry about derailing the thread, Lisa. Eliz did you lose all 108 pounds by heathly eating, and if so how long did it take? Really just a year? That is so impressive.

MM
 
I started back in November last year on the Slimming World plan, which is the thing that completely reformed my whole attitude to food; I'd tried and failed miserably with calorie/points counting for years and years, getting bigger all the time. I ended up with 10st of excess weight and a chronic bingeing problem.

I found the way Slimming World frees you from all that completely liberating and inspirational. The plan basically taught me how to eat healthily and to enjoy food again, things I'd long forgotten. The psychological benefits have been enormous and lasting, for me. It gave me confidence in myself, that I could eat 'normally' again.

Recently I'd made some small adjustments to the basic plan to accomodate my decision to become a vegan, and I mentioned this on a thread on the SW board. I then had some brainwashed numpty telling me I 'wasn't following the plan!!11!!', and an otherwise sensible poster telling me I should count my calcium supplement as a 'healthy extra'. :D :D

These seemed like bizarre reactions, to me. It really made me think about the difference between being a 'dieter' and being a 'healthy eater'. At that point I realised I'd obviously reached a point where I felt confident enough to trust my own judgement, without needing to blindly follow a dieting plan to the letter in order to feel 'safe'. So I decided to leave behind the dieting aspects, and just go forward by myself using the invaluable knowledge I'd gained over that year. Personally I don't want to be on a diet for the rest of my life in order to maintain a sensible weight. My ultimate aim was to be able to trust myself to make good choices as the norm, which is where I think I am now. :)

I've lost almost a further 12lbs since I made that decision five weeks ago, so I guess I was right!
 
Congrats Eliz,

I think you have discovered what is key to making the weight loss and better health long-lasting -- permanent lifestyle changes that work for you, as an individual. That is certainly my go -- at this point in my life. And, I am hoping to bring my family along with me.

MM
 
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